The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1887-04-27
HIRING FARM LABOR.
Cheap Help Unquestionably the Most Ex.
pensive in the Long Run.

Cneap Help UnqueSttOnably the Most Ex~
pensive in the Long Run.
The servant-girl problem is one that
has been prolific in discussion, but is
not yet satisfactorily settled to the
minds of many. The question of out
of-door help has also its various phases.
Good help is desideratum and can
command good wages; poor help is
dear at any price. Yet many farmers
are on the lookout for cheap help on
the farm.
Two farm laborers call on you to get
employment for the season. The one
wants $12 or SIS per month and board;
the other wants 500 and board. Here
is say SIS to So difference per month, OF
for the usual season of eight months, a
difference in asking price of $40 to $50
"a very clever amount, we admit. 1t
takes quite a few more bushels Of grain,
or tons of hay, to make the difference
good, if you choose the higher priced
man; but have you ever thought that a
dollar saved is just as good as dollar
earned?
Your cheap man knows he gets small
wages; he will, in nine cases out of ten,
work accordingly. A man getting 500
Or 25 per month for farm work, under.
stanus that he is expected to earn it; to
be worth it. The cheap man is lazy,
rises late, if he have his own way,
moves slowly, has no interest in the
work, and watches eagerly for the
sound of the dinner-bell, and for the
setting of the sun. He drops his hoe.
or axe, right where he stops, and he
stops right where and when the sound
waves from the dinner horn infringe
upon his ear. He is liable to be un.
familiar with many kinds of farm work,
and does 1t in a careless, unworkman-
like manner. He is cheap help, and
does cheap work.
l know of farmers who employ inn
migrants because they can be hired for
less than experienced Americans.
They seek them out at Castle Garden
before they have fairly gotten their
packs on their backs; they get them for
about nothing, and nine times in ten
they are worse than nothing. Some.
times there is an intelligent man
among them, but often it costs
more to teach them what to
do, than would be the differ
ence between their wages and those OF
an experienced laborer. The objection
may arise that American laborers are
few; that they will not work at farm
ing, if there is clerkship vacant in
country store; but this is beyond the
truth, it can hardly be said to be the
rule, though such cases can be found
very frequently.
The kind of hired man farmer
wants is the one who makes his
employers interests and his own iden.
tical as long as they are in co-partner.
ship, so to speak; one who has the head
to sometimes lead in the work, not
always follow; one who has judgment
in dealing with the dumb animals
under his care, and kindness in their
treatment; one who can set himself to
work in case the '.boss'' is absent and
see that the work goes on as well as il
he were at home. We have seen SO
many men who had neither desire nor
tact to- undertake piece of work with
out orders. that we place this as most
Important characteristic of good hired
man. Such men there are in almost
every community, and they are worth
all they ask, and often they are less
boastful of their own work than the
cheap man who wants little, gets little
and does little. IN 7. Independent